Timing Is Everything
by Melisande1
Summary: When Serena meets Darien in highschool they instantly become best friends. But Darien already has a girlfriend, and then after a fight in the group they stop talking. It's like they never even met...until they run into each other again 2 years later.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, but the story is mine, all mine! :)  
  
"Here we go," Serena thought as she walked through the doors of her new school. "America, here I come."  
  
Serena Livingston had just moved from England a couple of weeks ago, and was now entering Bradly High School in Evanston, Illinois as a Sophomore. Everything was happening so fast, she couldn't believe it. She woke up every morning and was surprised that she wasn't still in London. She missed her home, her friends, and her school. Although Evanston seemed like a nice place, she couldn't help but feel extremely alone as she walked past the unfamiliar faces in the hallway. This place was huge! She couldn't believe how many kids went to this school - almost 2,000! Her year alone was supposed to have around 600 students. Back home there had only been 100. Serena had no idea how she was going to meet anyone.  
  
Bradley High School was exactly like the schools she had seen in the movies. Lockers lined the halls, there were a few security guards hanging around, students were meeting up with their friends and calling to each other. A boy walked by Serena with blue, spiky hair, ripped jeans, chains, and piercings on his nose and eyebrow. Of course, Serena had seen people dressed like this before, but she was shocked that it was allowed in school. If anyone had come to school like that in London, they would have been sent home immediately. She herself was wearing a simple pair of jeans, with a white tank-top and blue hoodie.  
  
Snapping out of her thoughts, she started to look for the office. She spotted it down the hall and walked inside. "Hello," she smiled politely to the woman sitting behind the front desk. "My name is Serena Livinston and this is my first day here. I just moved from London."  
  
"So I can hear!" the lady practically shrieked. "I just looooove your accent dear! Well isn't that exciting! How do you like it here so far?"  
  
"Um, it's a very nice town..."  
  
"But of course it is! You're just going to looooove Evanston and Bradley High School, I know it! My name is Ms. Halio. Hold on a second, dear, while I look you up." With that she turned to her computer. "Okie, here we go," she said after a few seconds. "You're in locker 216B, on the second floor to your right, and you're sharing it with....Lita Anderson. Here's your locker combination and your class schedule," she handed Serena a paper she had just printed, "and the classrooms are pretty easy to find. If you need any help though, feel free to come back here and ask! Do you have any question?"  
  
"Not that I can think of -."  
  
"Great! I hope you have a wonderful first day, dear!"  
  
"Thank you for your help." Serena left the office in a bit of a daze. Ms. Halio had certainly been...exuberant. She walked up the stairs and found her locker almost immediately. Everything did seem to be easy to find here. It was all in order. She looked at the little piece of paper with her combination and started fiddling with the lock, but it didn't work! She tried again, still to no avail, and was just starting to get frustrated when -  
  
"Hey!" someone said right in her ear. Serena jumped and almost dropped her books. "You must be that new chick from London. I'm Lita, your locker partner. Nice to meet you!!" Lita was tall and gorgeous, Serena thought. She had long blonde hair, almost as long as Serena's, and beautiful brown eyes. She was wearing jeans and a long sleeved, dark green shirt. Serena thought maybe she was a model.  
  
"I'm Serena, nice to meet you, too," she replied after getting over her initial shock.  
  
"Oooooooh! You're accent is to DIE for!" Lita squealed. Then suddenly noticing Serena's predicament, "Oh here, let me get that. This locker can be a bitch sometimes." She opened it on the first try. "You'll get the hang of it in no time. So how do you like Evanston?" They both started putting their books away.  
  
"Well, I've only been here for two weeks, but it seems like a nice place so far," Serena replied.  
  
"I'd just kill to go to London," Lita said, "but Evanston isn't bad. There's enough stuff to do most of the time. And Bradley is pretty cool, too. Hey! What classes do you have?"  
  
Serena looked down at her schedule. "Ummm...I have English first, then Algebra II, then gym, lunch, Orchestra, US History, French, and Chemistry."  
  
"Who do you have for Chemistry?"  
  
"Mrs. Melitano."  
  
"Ouch, she's tough. But she's ok if you get on her good side. Did you say you have English first?"  
  
"Yes, with Mr. Bronco."  
  
"No way! So do I. Awesome, we can go together and you can meet my friends Amy and Ken. I think we have lunch together, too. You all done in here? Lets go. Oh, I can't wait for you to meet Ami, she's super sweet and - hey what are you doing after school today? A group of us were going to hang out at..."  
  
As Lita continued talking while they walked down the hall, Serena finally started feeling a little bit better. Maybe she wouldn't have such a problem meeting people after all. . .  
  
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More extensive author's comments next week along with a new chapter. Reviews would be great! Thanks. 


	2. chapter 2

Author's Notes: Hello! Thank you to everyone who read my story, and double thanks to those of you who wrote a review!! They really are inspiring (hint hint =P). So, here's the deal: I know how frustrating it can be when people don't update, so I will be updating at least once a week (and I mean it). I also know how frustrating it is when people don't finish their stories, but no worries, this story will definitely get finished. I already know where it's going and I wouldn't do that to you! Those are my promises to you. Enjoy the story and if you have time to write a review and tell me what you think, it would be muchly appreciated!  
  
By the by, ****** in the middle of the chapter indicates some sort of lapse in time, maybe quite small. And also, one small mistake from the first chapter: Lita's hair is BROWN, not blonde, of course. Soooo sorry about that.  
  
Disclaimer: As much as I would love to own Darien in any way, shape, or form, alas, I do not own him or any of the other main characters. But I do own the right to do whatever I want with him in this story . . . *grins evilly*  
  
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"Amy and Ken, this is Serena, my new British locker partner. Serena, this is Amy, our future valedictorian and basically the genius of our generation, and this is Ken, soon-to-be-star of the basketball team and recent winner of the PainInTheAss of the Year Award." Lita shrieked and ducked as Ken took a swipe at her head.  
  
"Pay no attention to her," he grinned at Serena. "She's just jealous that you'll probably end up liking me better than her. Most people do."  
  
"Hah!!"  
  
"You know it baby."  
  
"Keep dreaming, mama's boy."  
  
"Jesus, are you ever going to let that go?! I told you a million times she only serves me breakfast in bed when I'm SICK. S. I. C. K. But noooo, Little Miss Lita just can't let it go . . ."  
  
As the two continued bickering Amy looked apologetically at Serena. "They're always like this. They're also attached at the hip so . . ."  
  
Serena laughed. "I think I understand."  
  
"Hey! Your accent's great! You're from the northern part of London?"  
  
"How did you know?" Serena asked very surprised.  
  
"Well, I did an extra credit research paper on the different accents of England and their relation to the different cultures. I'm very fascinated with Europe in general. Actually, with culture and history in general . . .well actually, with just about anything . . ."  
  
Serena laughed again. "That's great!"  
  
"When did you move here, Serena?"  
  
"Just two weeks ago. I would have come to school sooner, but moving into our new house has taken so much time and Mum and Dad decided it would be better if I got used to the town a bit first."  
  
"Eh, you've only missed about a month. We started August 24th. But hey! I'll totally help you catch up if you want. I'm already about three chapters ahead, so I could spare some time."  
  
"Thanks! Wow, I'd really appreciate that."  
  
"YOU FAT FACED FROG-FRECKLED LITTLE TURD!!" Lita's scream interrupted Amy and Serena's conversation. Suddenly Lita launched herself at Ken and they started a full-out tickle war. Amy and Serena looked at each other and hid smiles behind their hands.  
  
"Isn't marriage just written all over them?" Amy whispered.  
  
"Are you kidding?" Serena replied. "I could see it the moment we walked in and they looked at each other."  
  
Amy sighed. "Yeah, maybe someday they'll see that, too . . ."  
  
************  
  
So far Serena's day was going much better than she had expected. Mr.Bronco, her English teacher, was a bit cooky and had this strange arm twitch, but she, Lita, Amy and Ken had a fun time passing notes and coming up with a disturbing story about how he got the twitch. Math had never been Serena's favorite subject, but Ken was in Algebra II with her and the teacher seemed nice enough. They were playing volleyball in Gym, which Serena was fairly good at. A couple of people in there had seemed nice, like a girl named Molly and another named Michiru. Now is was time for lunch, though, and Serena was praying that Lita would be at their locker because she had NO idea where to go.  
  
When she got there, though, Lita was nowhere in sight. "Shit," Serena thought as she put down her books. She looked dubiously at the secure lock. "Well, I suppose I'm going to have to figure this out eventually . . ."  
  
First try . . .no luck. Second try . . .nope! nada. Third try . . .and Serena started banging her head on the locker repeatedly. Then suddenly, two arms came around her from behind, quickly turned the combination and opened the lock. But those arms definitely didn't belong to Lita, Serena thought.  
  
She turned around quickly and was met with a pair of beautiful dark blue eyes, messy black hair, and a mischievous grin. Her breath caught for a moment. Whoever he was, he was the most gorgeous guy she'd ever seen.  
  
"Yooooouuuuu," he said, drawing it out but obviously teasing, "must be the infamous Serena I've been hearing all about."  
  
"Um . . ." she was still really flustered, especially since he still basically had her pinned to her locker, "righto?"  
  
His grin turned into a real smile and he laughed, which Serena realized she could learn to love much too easily. Then suddenly he was no longer looming over her. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out just then. Lita told me you'd probably be having trouble with the lock, so when I saw you banging your head. . . I just couldn't resist."  
  
"I see."  
  
"I'm Darien by the way, nice to meet you, and Lita is meeting with a teacher for a few minutes, so I'm here to show you the joys of the Bradly High School cafeteria experience - and yes, the sarcasm was intentional."  
  
"Ohhh!" Serena was relieved now that everything made sense. "Oh, thanks then! It's nice to meet you, too. I can't believe how wonderful Lita's been about making me feel accepted here. You didn't have to do this either. Thank you."  
  
"Of course! No problem. And yeah, Lita is pretty great. But she also already thinks you're pretty great as well. And any friend of Lita's is definitely a friend of mine."  
  
Serena had started putting her books away, but she smiled at him. "Say, are you a . . .what do they call it here again? A second year, third year . . .?"  
  
Darien laughed. "I'm a third year, or a Junior as they say. And you're a Sophomore with Lita."  
  
"That's right!" Serena slammed her locker and gave it a kick for good measure.  
  
"Yeah, these lockers can suck pretty badly sometimes."  
  
Serena growled a bit as they started walking down the hallway. "So how did you and Lita meet?"  
  
"THAT'S a story. Now she would probably tell you different, but I promise you once you get to know Lita better you'll totally understand and believe me. That girl came right up to me and punched me in the face one day. Completely random! I'd never seen her before in my life, and it was the first week of school last year."  
  
"No! Why would she ever do that?"  
  
"Well NOW she'd tell you that it was because she could smell my ego from a mile away and I deserved a good punch in the face," Darien chuckled, "but at the time, after she looked at me laying on the floor -"  
  
"Wait a second. Lita floored you?!"  
  
"You have no idea. I'm not even ashamed to admit it. That girl can pack a punch like no other, and everyone in this school knows it. So she looked at me on the floor and must have realized that I wasn't who she originally thought, and started apologizing like crazy, saying something about an x- boyfriend that looked just like me . . ."  
  
"You've got to be kidding me!" Serena couldn't stop laughing now.  
  
"I swear to you! Just wait until you get to know Lita better."  
  
"So it was friends at first . . . fist fight?"  
  
"Haha, you have NO idea."  
  
They were at the cafeteria now, and Serena looked around without a clue at the many long lines and scrunched up tables. "Ok," Darien said, "the Bradly caf. The line way at the back there is for hamburgers, fries, nachos and cheeses, stuff like that. I'll be honest with you, it's pretty gross. To the right is the line for whatever the special of the day is, which is also normally not so appetizing. To the left is a salad bar, and if you think you can't do anything wrong to a salad, think again, although they have some bagels there that aren't so bad. And finally, right in front of us is the pizza and sandwiches line, which I tend to think is the lesser of the evils. So what'll it be?"  
  
Serena wasn't quite so hungry anymore, she had to admit, but, "I'll take your word for it. Pizza it is."  
  
"Good choice!"  
  
****************  
  
When they left the cafeteria with their trays to the nice grassy area outside, Serena was relieved they wouldn't have to eat in that crowded room. Since it was September the weather was still really nice, too. Darien was walking them towards a tree and underneath Serena recognized Ken and Amy, who were there along with a couple of other people.  
  
"Hey Serena!" Amy waved. "Lita should be here any minute. I see you met Darien."  
  
"Yeah, he *ahem* 'helped' me open my locker *cough cough* ."  
  
Darien stood there trying to look innocent and Serena gave him a slight shove on his shoulder. "Hey! Look at this face," he implored Amy, who was giggling. "Would I ever do anything like Serena, for whatever reason, seems to be implying?"  
  
Amy laughed even harder. "Don't look at me Darien! I KNOW you, remember?"  
  
Darien sighed in defeat and muttered beneath his breath. "Ungrateful women."  
  
Amy and Serena just laughed even harder. "C'mon Serena," Amy said as they sat down, "I want you to meet a couple more people. Everyone, this is Serena and she just moved here. Serena, this is Andrew -" Serena shook the hand of a cute guy with sandy blonde hair and green eyes, "this is Mina -" Mina had medium length blonde hair and brown eyes, "Seiya -" who was a lighter blonde than Andrew, but with light blue eyes, "and finally Raye." Raye, Serena thought, was absolutely stunning. She had long black hair and eyes that almost seemed purple. She also noticed that Darien had sat down by Raye and had his arm around her.  
  
'Oh,' she thought, immediately disappointed. 'Well of course, they look amazing together. Of course someone like Darien would already be taken. And besides, it was just a little too good to be true. We got along ridiculously well back there - like we'd known each other for years or something! But hey, that's ok . . .remember your rule Serena? No liking guys with girlfriends. It's fine. We can still be friends. And Raye looks nice anyway.'  
  
Serena smiled at everyone. "It's really great to meet all of you. And I just want to say thanks for letting me eat with you and for being so nice when you don't even know me. I can't tell you how much it means to me."  
  
"Well of course!"  
  
"Anytime! It's nice to meet you, too."  
  
"Hey, your accent is wicked cool, girl!"  
  
"How do you like it here so far?"  
  
As settled down to eat and to get to know Serena, a shriek was heard from across the courtyard.  
  
"Heyyyyy guys!!! Wait! What'd I miss? What'd I miss? TELLLLLLL me!!!"  
  
As Lita bounded into the middle of the group Serena smiled. She couldn't believe her luck. 


	3. chapter 3

Hello all. Sorry for the slight delay. Enjoy and then tell me what you think!  
  
Disclaimer: no own Sailor Moon.  
  
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"So Serena, why did your family decide to move here from London?" Amy asked while they were eating.  
  
"Well," Serena said as she devoured her pizza, "my parents own this computer business. Now that it's become a bigger business in the United States, they wanted to move their main offices over here, and be here to run it. So here we are."  
  
"Oh wow, what's the business called?" Andrew asked.  
  
Serena blushed a bit and hesitated. "You've . . . you've probably heard of it. It's called, um, well . . . metdslfkjsdf . . ."  
  
"What's that? You're mumbling."  
  
"I said Metly Computers!" she said a bit too loudly. "Oh, um, sorry. Yeah . . ." Suddenly Serena's pizza became very interesting.  
  
"Whoa! Are you kidding me? You must be, like, totally rich!" Seiya suddenly looked interested from where he was sitting against the tree.  
  
Serena picked at a pepperoni. "Yeah I guess . . ."  
  
"What was school like over there?" Mina suddenly chimed in, sensing Serena's discomfort. Serena sent her a grateful smile.  
  
"So far not too different from here in terms of classes and everything, but we have a dress code and we don't have lockers, and it seems like my old school was a bit stricter in general, which creates a different atmosphere. Although my friends and I certainly made an effort to break every one of those rules." Serena laughed. "We even started going through the hand- book, checking them off, because they just came up with the stupidest rules you've ever heard. The best was when Michelle, Dora, Sarah and I came to school in hair curlers. Mrs. Handcock turned so red when we told her it was for the school play . . ." Suddenly realizing that everyone was silently watching her, Serena remembered that she was going on and on to people she had only just met. "Heh, um, sorry, I tend to get really into stories sometimes . . . I guess I kind of miss London, too . . ."  
  
"Oh! Don't worry about it at all! I know I'M totally interested," Raye said from where she sat beside Darien.  
  
"Me, too!" Andrew said.  
  
"I've never been out of the United States before, so if anything I should be the one apologizing now because I know I wont be able to stop asking you questions!" Mina exclaimed.  
  
Serena smiled slowly. "Thanks! I don't know why you guys are being so nice to me, but I just want to say thank you. I didn't expect people to be so friendly so quickly here, but you all have made me feel so at home here already, and it's only my first day!"  
  
Everyone was smiling at her, and Serena couldn't help but notice how honest and accepting those smiles looked.  
  
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"Hey Serena! Where are you off to next?" Andrew said as he caught up with her after lunch.  
  
"I have orchestra now." Serena smiled at that. It was the one class she had been looking forward to all day. "Actually, do you know where the orchestra room is? I can't believe how big this school is."  
  
"Not only can I show you where it is, but I'm also going to orchestra. Senior orchestra, right?" Serena nodded. "Wow, congratulations on getting in your first year here. Mr. Dillion hardly ever lets someone into the highest orchestra right away. What do you play?"  
  
"The viola, and thanks! I'm very serious about it. In fact, I want to major in music performance after high school."  
  
"Oh cool!"  
  
"Yeah. What do you play?"  
  
Andrew's grinned became mischievous. "Drums."  
  
Serena laughed. "I should have known! That's so awesome." Then her smile turned mischievous as well. "What, are you in a rock band or something?"  
  
"As a matter of fact I am. Did you even have to ask? Are you saying my rock-star persona isn't totally obvious?"  
  
"You're right of course! I was just going to assume, but then I thought that your ego probably didn't need any more of a boost, because unfortunately darling, that's a little obvious as well." She winked at him.  
  
Andrew laughed out loud. "Serena, we are going to get along just fine . . ."  
  
*********************  
  
"Why don't you sit over here for now, Serena," Mr. Dillion said, pointing to the third stand of violas. "Auditions for chair placement are next week, and I know you haven't had much time with the music - "  
  
"Oh don't worry about it. It's no problem," Serena cut in.  
  
"Great! Just tell me if you need more time. I'd also recommend asking Michiru if you have any questions you think might be better answered by a student. I know she'd be more than willing to help you."  
  
Serena looked over at the girl she recognized from gym class. "Thanks, I'll do that."  
  
"Ok then," Mr. Dillion said raising his voice and turning to the class. "Lets begin, shall we? Everyone pull out the Beethoven . . ."  
  
Orchestra passed by in a blur. Whenever Serena was playing her viola time seemed to fly. She had played the Beethoven symphony before and it was one of her favorite pieces. They were also playing Gershwin's "An American in Paris", which she had never heard before, but was quickly falling in love with its unique sounds. The orchestra was very good, Serena thought, maybe because it was such a big school that the conductor could be very picky about who was in the highest orchestra. She couldn't believe that orchestra was actually considered a class, part of the school day! In London she'd join a community orchestra. Whatever the case, Serena instantly knew this would be her favorite class of the day. That, and the fact that Andrew was making funny faces at her the entire time. Of course then he would mess up and Mr.Dillion would scold him and Serena could barely keep her laughter inside . . .  
  
**********************  
  
"Serena!! So what are you doing now?" Lita raced up to her after school was over.  
  
"I'll probably just go home - "  
  
"No way!" Lita interrupted. "You should come hang out with the group. We took an official vote and . . . well ok, there was no official vote, but I already can tell that everyone totally loves you! Everyone was asking if you were going to meet up with us after school, and I think Darien mentioned that he already asked you or something?"  
  
"Um, yeah, we're in French together, and he said you guys were going to go to some arcade?" French had been far more enjoyable than she thought it would be, and Darien was surprisingly good, and when he spoke with that accent . . . 'No Serena, girlfriend rule, off limits . . .'  
  
"Yeah! It's where Andrew works after school sometimes. So we go there and bother him. Hee hee. Can you already tell that we immensely enjoy torturing each other in any way possible?"  
  
"I think it's becoming obvious! Well here, let me call my parents and ask." Serena took out her cell phone and dialed her Mom's office number, figuring she'd be more likely to get a positive answer from her. "Hi, Mum? . . .Yeah! . . .School was great actually . . .I know this morning I was a little bummed but I met some people . . .Yeah, they're really great . . .Well sure, look Mum, I want to tell you all about it when you come home but . . .Ok, 7 o'clock? . . .Well you see that's what I was wondering. My locker partner invited me to come with her and some friends to this arcade. Would that be ok? . . .Oh, I didn't think about getting home . . ."  
  
Lita whispered to her, "Don't worry about it! Darien or Seiya will drive you home. They drive to school."  
  
Serena gave her a huge smile. "Mum! Lita says that a couple of her friends drive to school, and they'd have no problem driving me home afterwards . . .No Mum, nothing like that . . .Pleeeeaaaaaaase? . . . Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou! I'll be home by the time you're back from work. I love you! Bye!"  
  
Serena hung up before her Mom could change her mind and looked at Lita.  
  
"Yessssss!" they both said at the same time.  
  
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That's it for now. More and longer updates when I don't have so much school work to do (I do love college, I do love college . . . gaaaaaaah!) I know that this is moving a bit slowly, but I promise it will start speeding up. I felt like I needed to establish the group and Serena's background first. But tell me what you think or if it's too slow . . . REVIEW! Ciao. And may we have peace. 


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